Game projectile



Feb. 17, 1948.

M. C. MYERS I GAME PROJECTILE Filed Dec. 21, 1943 INVENTOR. cfiiye rs 0140,72 Zora 6' waya Patented Feb. 17, 1948 'GAMErRoJE'oriLe. Mahlon C. Myers, 'Takoma Park; Md; Application December. 21, 1943,, serial Nor. 515,137.

1 Claim; 1

This invention. appertains. to. amusement and exercising devices generally, and .hasfor anobject.

to. provideagame .apparatuswhich isembodield in.

anaerialiprojectileanda. combinedprojector. andca't'cher. therefor, the. same to be employed for either indoor. or. outdoor play between two or more. persons, notonly for. theiramusementbut. also for. their. general .physicalldevelopment, as well. asfor the development. of; a. more. or less. perfect. co-

. V 2" Figure. 3. is.a similar view but taken on the line 3Z-3Iof;Elgl1re. 1';

Figure. 4isanother similar sectional'view, taken. on thelihe 4.4'of.1i'igure1 Eigure 5.'i"s.=a-fragmentary vertical section taken on the. lined-5 ofFigurel;

Figure 6' is. a. perspective view offa preferred. form ofjthe aerialiprojectile;

Ei'gure 71s aside elevationthereof;

ordination between. the mental and physical: 111 I Figure 8" is an end view ofa modlfied'form.o

faculties.

. Another object. of the invention is to provide a game. apparatus of. this character, wherein. theprojectile is put into play by, being. hurled. from one. player. in. the; general direction. of another pl'ayer,,with theobiectiveotikeepingtheprojectile in. substantially continuous. motion, without at any. time touchingi the personior. ground, over a: predetermined. periodof playtime, the. projectile being caught. on. ahand implement and imme-- diately projected. therefrom to that end,

A further. object. of the invention hasto do with the provision of a game-apparatus of this kind, which in its pla and results is comparable to the Spanish gameaof Pelota, or Jai-Alai, in that it requires a better eye, more speed, activity, and a surer control of practically every; muscle of the body than a majority of other similar sports.

In play, thegame: has the advantages, in that no especially prepared or defined court, Or other enclosure or area is required; although any one of? these may be utilized if available, and there need; beno limit pl'aced'uponthe number of per.- sons. for play, unless it is desired to engender competition between selectedigroups or teams, in either case, the players will takescattered positions on the play area for the hurling of the projectile from one player t'o-anot-her, either in a haphazard manner or by rotation. Any suitable systemof scoring may be. employed; as byadding points forcatches made and penalizing by: point deductionsfor misses andfor fouls or intentional interference.

Withth'ese'and other objects-andadvantages in view theinvention resides iirthe .certainnew and useful" combihat'on, construction and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, set forth in the appended claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the combined projector and catcher, in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 22 of Figure 1:

-- theinventionand Figure. 9 isasectional detaiLshowing the-inter-= connected, lengths. of chain housed. within the protective tubing. forming the embodimentrof. the

inventionshowninFigm-e Referring. to. the draw-ing,.wherein like. char-- acters of. reference denote: corresponding parts: in.

the several views, and more particularly toFigures .1.through.15.',.the. embodiment of the combined 2.0 roiector andcatcher, as itis exemplifiedtherein takes the form. of a. hand. implement that i of unitary construction, preferably carved or other-- wise. shaped, from. a single block. of a woodof tough. fiber,. and is comprised essentially of. a

25. han'dgripportion 1],. a guard portion l4, and a:

prong. or finger. portion; Id. The hand-grip por tion H. is. substantially rectangular in cross-section, preferably. oblong, asshow-nin Figure 2; and has. itsfour sides;v covered withleather ora like material. [2. to provide. a non-slip gripping surface. Therear. and opposite. sides of the upper end of thehandl-grip portion H tapers. off on inward y curving linesto merge intothe neck portion l3, which. in .turnmerges into the guard portion.- I 4. that. takesanattened and upwardl flarm shape of, substantially wedge-like form. in cross-section, substantially as is shown in'Figure 31. This. upward and. forward curvature of the rear side. of. the. hand grip portion. I merges at 40 the. neckportion 3 with the reversely'or rearwardly andupwardly curving back. edge of the guard ortion Mthat. takesthe: form of azsweep ing. are the length; of. which; beyond. the" top-end or side. of. the. guard-portion, definesthe curvature oftheprongor finger I61.

The-prong or finger I 6. projects-upwardly from the top of the guard portion I4 in continuation with its rear side or edge and has its 'free end terminating in a plane slightly in rear of a vertical plane passing through its base and the lower end of the rear side or heel of the hand-grip portion I I, substantially as shown. The prong or finger I6 is tapered upwardly from its base and has its front side or edge merging on a curved line 5 into the top side or edge of the guard portion l4.

while the latter is made to a gradually increasing thickness forwardly from the base of the prong or finger 16, as at I and as shown in Figure 4. The top side or edge of the guard portion M is sloped upwardly from the base of the prong or finger l6 and forwardly therefrom, so that it forms an obtuse angle with reference to the axis of the hand-grip portion of the implement. The free end of-the prong or finger i6 is preferably provided with a protective tip H, of rubber or the like, to prevent otherwise possible injury to the players.

The aerial projectile, to be employed with the hand implement just described and as depicted in Figures 5 through 9, is comprised in anopenwork body that may have an over-all size comparable with that of a football or a basketball and it is preferably made up of interconnected lengths of chain enclosed within corresponding lengths of afiexlble tubing, the chain being of the closed linktype and oi a size to give an efiective weight to the finished projectile, and the tubing of a soft or-freely flexible rubber or rubber substitute to give protection to the players against injury during play. As illustrated, the lengths of chain It} and tubing 20 (Figures 8 and 9) are made up to'provide two end circlets or rings 22 of equal diameters andan intermediate circlet or ring 23 ofa larger diameter, which are arranged in equidistantly spaced, side to side, relation and concentrically, one with respect to the other, and are thereafter interconnected at points spaced along their respective lengths, by straight lengths 24 of the chain and tubing, the chain lengths being linked together at theirpoints of connection, as at 19, and'the tubing lengths vulcanized at their respective points-of contact, as at 2|. Due to the larger formation of the intermediate circlet or ring 23, the chain and tubing lengths 24 assume curvatures which define arcs of circles when in assembly with thercirclets or rings 22, 23, the lengths of which may be such as to give to the projectile the elongated oval form of a football, or the more or less spherical formof a basketball. In assembly, the opposite open ends of the lengths of tubing are abutted against the outer peripheries of the circlets or rings 22 for securement thereto by vulcanizing, while medial portions thereof are similarly secured to the outer periphery of the intermediate circlet or ring 23, which with the linking together of the several chain lengths, provides an open-work body of sufiicient strength and durability to withstand the usage to which it is subjected during play.

In use, each of any number of persons will be provided with a hand implement and will then take scattered or predetermined positions on the play area, when a prolectilewillbe putinto play by one of the players. In play, the starting player will engage the projectile on the prong or finger it of his hand implement and will then forcibly hurl it from the prong or finger by a sweeping motion of the arm. If the play is to be a free-forall, the projectile will be hurled from one player to another in a haphazard fashion, or if the play is to be conductedby the players in a predeterhard ' be taken on the 4 mined rotation or sequence, the projectile will then be hurled as directly as possible, depending upon the skill acquired by a particular player, toward the player who is next in turn to receive it. The play and the scoring of the game will be governed by rules to be agreed upon between the players. As to scoring, this may be done by point values added for fair catches of the projectile and making deductions of the same or other point values as penalties for misses, fouls,-'and the like. In any case, the projectile is preferably kept in substantially continuous motion from play r to player after start of play and over predetermined play periods. In efiecting a catch of the projectile, the hand implement is positioned in the line of flight of the projectile for the engaging of one of its openings by the prong or finger i6 and, when so caught, the force of its impact will guard I4|5, so as to avoid injury to the hand of the player making the catch. Immediately upon making a fair catch of the projectile, the'player will hurl it from his implement so as to keep it in continuous speedy motion between the several persons engaged in the play.

Having thus fully described my invention, it is to be understood that various changes in form and minor details of construction of both the hand implement and the aerial projectile mayjbe resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention, or its scope as claimed. V

WhatIclaimis: j

A game projectile comprising two relatively spaced rings of similar contour, a third larger ring positioned intermediate of said first .mentioned rings centrallythereof, arcuate spaced members connected at their endsto said ringsand at their center to said third ring to connect said rings in parallel relation to each other, and, said rings and said members are made, of flexible. tubing and chains are positioned in. said rings and said members and are connected at their meeting points to form a unitary assembly.

, ,MAHLON C. MYERS.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,022,186 Engler Apr-.2, 1912 2,321,371 DuPont June 8,1943 1,509,491 Sawyer Sept, 23, 1924 1,593,453 Hinsen July 20, 1926 513,560 Dickey Jan. 30, 1894 1,532,576 Carlson Apr. '7, 1925 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 416,687 Great Britain Sept. 19, 1934 263,367 Italy Mar. 15, 1,929 198,515 Great Britain June '1, 1923 422,850 Germany Dec. 14, 1925 422,851 Germany Dec. 14, 1925 200,817

Great Britain July 9, 1923 

